MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Multicultural Community Relations - characterized by people of different races,

ethnicities, and nationalities living together in the same community. In multicultural
communities, people retain, pass down, celebrate, and share their unique cultural ways
of life, languages, art, traditions, and behaviours.
Community Diversity - diversity occurs when people of different races, nationalities,
religions, ethnicities, and philosophies come together to form a community. A truly
diverse society is one that recognizes and values the cultural differences in its people.
Social Responsibility in the Community - It is a duty of the corporate body to protect
the interest of the society as well as the environment.
Companies and Organizations acknowledge their responsibilities to the community:
 Helping maintain clean air and water
 Providing jobs for minorities
 Enhancing everyone’s quality of life

Voluntarism – another element of giving back to the community.

What Community Expects
 Appearance – community hopes that the firm will contribute positively to life in
the area. It expects facilities to be attractive, with care spent on the grounds and
plant.
 Participation – organization is expected to participate responsibly in community
affairs, such recreational activities, education and support of religious institutions.
 Stability – communities prefer stable organizations that will grow the area.
 Pride – communities want firms that are proud to be residents.
What Organization Expects – expect to be provided with adequate municipal services,
fair taxation, good living conditions for employees and a good labor supply.
Community Relations Objectives
1. To tell the community about the operations of the firm: its products, number of
employees, size of the payroll, tax payments, employee benefits, growth and
support of community projects.
2. To correct misunderstandings, reply to criticism, and remove any disaffection that
may exist among community neighbors.
3. To gain the favorable opinion of the community, particularly during strikes and
period of labor unrest, by stating the company’s position on the issues involved.
 4. To inform employees and their families about company activities and
developments, so they can tell their friends and neighbors about the company
and favorably influence opinions of the organization.
5. To inform people in the local government about the firm’s contributions to
community welfare and to obtain support for legislation that will favorably affect
the business climate of the community.
6. To find out what residents think about the company, why they like or dislike its
policies and practices and how much they know of its policy, operations and
problems.
7. To establish personal relationship between management and community leaders
by inviting leaders to visit the plant and offices, meet management, and see
employees at work.
8. To support health programs through contributions of both funds and employee
services to local campaigns.
9. To contribute to culture by providing fund for exhibits, concerts and drama
festivals.
10. To aid youth and adult education by cooperating with administrators and
teachers in providing student vocational guidance, plant tours, speakers, films,
and teaching aids and by giving financial and other support to schools.
11. To encourage sports and recreational activities by providing athletic fields,
swimming pools, golf courses, tennis courts for use by community residents and
sponsoring teams and sports events.
12. To promote better local and country government by encouraging employees to
run for public office or to volunteer to serve on administrative boards; by lending
company executives to community agencies or local government to give
specialized advice and assistance on municipal problems.
13. To assist the economy of community by purchasing from local merchants and
manufacturers.
14. To operate a profitable business in order to provide jobs and to pay competitive
wages and increase the community’s purchasing power and strengthen
economy.
15. To cooperate with other local business in advancing economic and social welfare
through joint community relations programs financed and directed by
participating organizations.
Community Relations on the Internet
Serving Diverse Communities
1. Women – have made great strides in leveling the playing field between their roles
and compensation schedules on male counter parts.
2. African American – can be reach through special media:
 Black Entertainment Television
 Local African American Radio Stations
  Pioneering Internet Sites
 Magazines
 Newspapers
3. Latinos – are voracious media consumers relying heavily on TV and RADIO to
stay informed.
 2 Large Spanish -programming networks: UNIVISION AND TELEMUNDO.

4. Gays, Seniors and others

Growing Community Advocacy
 Media Advocacy – is public relations without resources. It is using media
to attract attention and shake the established order. It is use for raising
public awareness.
Nonprofit Public Organizations – serve the social, educational, religious, and cultural
needs of the community around them. This sector is a primary source of employment for
public relations graduates.
- Nonprofit seek to win public support of their mission and programs through active
and open communications. They seek broaden volunteer participation in their
efforts through the use of controversial communications.
 Nonprofit sector characterized by panoply institutions: Hospitals, schools,
labor unions, chambers of commerce, social welfare agencies, religious
institutions and cultural organizations.
Developing a Marketing/Promotional Plan – the job simply is marketing the
organization to raise its profile, respect and levels of support. This requires planning in
terms of audiences, messages, and vehicles to deliver those messages to those
audiences.
8 Strategic Planning
1. Plan
2. Define issues
3. Build strategies
4. Fames issues
5. Develop talking points
6. Choose appropriate spokespersons
7. Develop communications materials
8. Target messages
Media Relations
1. Talk Radio – this medium is a natural way to spread the nonprofit gospel
2. Cable TV – the nonstop menu of nightly cable talk television programs, all hungry
for outspoken, opinionated and articulate guests.
 3. Op Eds – opinion editorials drafted by nonprofit executives are another prominent
and cheap way of getting points of view aired to an influential audience.
4. Cable Access – community channels are generally willing repositories for
nonprofit programming and talent.
Fund – Raising – is a key nonprofit challenge that must engage the attention of the
organization’s key executives.
-the need to raise money to support operations lies at the heart of every nonprofit
institution.
Basic Steps of Successful Fund- Raising Campaign
1. Identify campaign plans and objectives – financial target should be set. Goals
should be announced.
2. Organize fact-finding – relations with various elements of the community should
be defined. The national and local economies should be considered.
3. Recruit Leaders - the best campaigns are ones with strong leadership.
4. Plan and Implement Strong Communications Activities – the best fund-raising
campaigns are the most visible. Publicity and promotion must be stressed.
Special events should be organized. Update fund-raising progress should be
communicated particularly volunteers and contributors.
5. Periodically Review and Evaluate – review fund raising program as progress.
Make midcourse corrections when activities succeed of failed beyond
expectations. Evaluate program achievements against program target.
Intelligent Organizations- must be responsive to the needs and desires of their
communities.
Community Relations – is only effective as the support it receives from the top
management.